Hero Worship
by Twin-Lupus
Summary: A new girl moves to town, and is quickly informed about the Teen Titans. She claims not to care about celebrities and such hero worship, but could something happen to change her mind? [Oneshot] (Slight RxS, RxBB) [FG]


Author's Note: Well, this is a one-shot, glad that you found it! Important to understand though: yes, this _is_ a Teen Titans story, but it is not centered around them. They are not the main characters. This is someone else's view on them. They obviously will be in the story, but please, everyone, don't read the first few lines and be like, "Hey, this isn't Teen Titans!" because I assure you, it is.

All right, that being said, here is my one-shot, and I hope you enjoy!

-----

**Hero Worship**

I resisted the urge the play with my hair again as I stared through the small window into the classroom. I could see the teacher standing there, talking to the class, but I couldn't hear what she was saying. I knew she was introducing me, but I couldn't tell if she was telling everyone to be nice to me, or to torture me.

I hate being the new kid.

Suddenly, the teacher motioned to me, which was my cue to enter. Nervously, I jiggled the handle, and the door flung forward. Ten minutes in a new school, and I'd already embarrassed myself.

"This is Kelly Greer, from out of state. I'm sure everyone will make her feel welcome," the teacher said, glaring at a few students as she spoke. She then gestured to a seat in the back. "Please sit down, and welcome to Jump City."

I slid, shaking, into the desk, and dropped my backpack. I would get my locker by the end of the day. Until then, I was forced to lug all the books the school had handed to me that morning around.

The girls in front of me turned to sneer at me. Their faces had a nice, pasty look from too much cover-up. The blonde girl pretended to pick at her perfectly manicured nails while she pushed my folder off the desk to the floor. She and her posse giggled. Luckily, only my schedule and sketch papers fell out, but I didn't want anyone to see my drawings. They're _mine_, and no one's allowed to see. I scrambled to pick them all up.

The boy next to me, without removing his gaze from the teacher, grabbed my schedule from my clenched fist, and read it. He practically threw it back at me, and I barely caught it. As the bell rang, signaling that we all had to go to first period, he picked up his books and walked next to me in the hall.

"We have next period together, so I'll help you out," he offered. I stared at him incredulously. "Don't you talk?" he demanded.

"Only to people worth my time," I snapped back. He looked surprised, but then laughed. It wasn't supposed to be funny.

"Well, fine then. I won't make you talk." He smiled. "On second thought… where did you live before?"

I rolled my eyes. "New York."

"City?"

"Yup."

His eyes widened. "That's awesome! That's a huge city, I've always wanted to go-"

"Believe me, it's not that great. I mean, yeah, it's amazing to visit, but I didn't like living there. Life was a little too… fast-paced," I interjected. He nodded understandingly.

"Things around here can be pretty tense too. But I'd like to bet in a whole different way," he said, grinning toothily. I really didn't like his smirk. Had we not been on school premises, I would have punched his face in.

"You gonna tell me your name?" I demanded.

"Ian," he answered. Great. It was a good name.

"Well, Ian, what do you mean by 'a whole different way'?"

"This city is protected by some of the bravest people ever to walk the face of the earth. You'll be perfectly safe here. We have all these creeps crawling all over the city, but no one worries. This is as safe as it gets," Ian bragged proudly. I only raised my eyebrows, and was about to retort when he stuck his arm out in front of me and I walked into it. "This would be Latin."

---

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, at least until Biology. It was fifth period, right before lunch, and throughout the entire class, there was the fidgety unrest of hungry students.

"Does everyone understand the assignment?" the teacher drawled. There was a chorus of agreements, and she sent us into our lab groups. Having been at the school less than five hours, I had no lab group.

I opened my binder, filled only with the notes we had just taken and the few sheets Mrs. Creighton had handed me in the beginning of class. I shuffled through my belongings nervously, wondering whether or not I'd make it in this new school.

I heard the chair next to me slide out. Looking over, I saw a girl gingerly set herself down. She smiled at me. "Hi."

"Um… hi," I responded carefully. I had no idea where this was going.

"My name's Kristen," she said cheerfully. She glanced over at the teacher, who was preoccupied with something on her desk. "Look, I'm having a little bit of trouble grasping these concepts. There was a test last Friday, but I wasn't here. I was sick. I could really use some help with this cr- stuff."

"So you want me to what, tutor you?" I asked in disbelief. She winced.

"Um… I don't have any money."

"OK, that's fine," I said quickly. Any friend was better than none. "I don't have to get paid. Seriously, I wasn't even thinking of that."

Kristen smiled. "Thanks so much!" She looked as if she was about to throw her arms around my neck in a bone-crushing hug, but luckily for me, she resisted that urge. She pulled my binder over and began flipping through some of my notes. What was _with_ this town and my personal belongings?

"I'll definitely make it up to you," she chattered as we walked down the hall together, having been dismissed to lunch. "I mean, this is just so nice of you, and I owe you-"

"Really, it's OK," I tried to insist as I grabbed my bagel from the food line. I played with the cling wrap on it as Kristen grabbed a lunch try and slid it down towards the register. I turned to face her, and saw Ian over her shoulder. He nodded at me, in that "suave guy" way, and as I smiled back, Kristen whirled around.

She didn't say anything to him; she just stared, dumbfounded. Ian, however, seemed indifferent. He grabbed a lunch as well, then went into the other line, which was shorter. Kristen blinked and looked at me. She smirked, but didn't say anything. We paid, then she led me out of the line to an empty table, right in the middle of the room.

"Here we go," she said, dropping her books onto the table, and calmly setting her lunch down. I pulled out the chair across from her, and sat down. She pushed her binder towards me, and I flipped it around so that it faced me correctly. The first thing I noticed was a newspaper article, shoved into the front pouch. The picture showed a group of teenagers dressed in the strangest outfits I'd ever seen. Two of them were holding onto what seemed like a magician in hand cuffs, while another hoisted bags of money over her shoulders. The last two posed for the camera.

I had been seeing these people in many such pictures all over school, and I still had yet to figure out who they were, and why they were so praised by the entire teenage population. 'Might as well find out,' I thought to myself.

"So who are these guys?" I asked, tapping her binder. Kristen stared.

"Are you serious?" she demanded.

"Yeah… who are they?"

Kristen just blinked at me. I was starting to get really frustrated as she lifted her hand to her forehead in apparent shock. "You-"

"No, I don't know who they are. I just moved here. What do you expect?"

"How can you not have heard of the Teen Titans? They're totally famous!" Kristen nearly shouted. A few people whirled around. She looked around sheepishly, and they turned back, resuming their regular lunchtime activities.

"The who?"

"The Teen Titans!" Kristen took a deep breath. "They're superheroes. They protect this city from all forms of evil -- and believe me, there is plenty of evil around here." She pointed to the picture in her binder, her finger on a man seemingly half-metal. "This one is Cyborg. He was in some sort of horrible accident and had to go through tremendous surgery. Now he lives here, protecting us from these kinds of tragedies." She moved over to the cloaked figure, the two of them apprehending the clown. "This is Raven. No one knows much about her, but she's got these really cool dark powers, and the Goths worship her." Her finger moved to the girl carrying the money, her long hair flowing behind her. "That's Starfire. The entire male population of this school drools at the sight of her. She's actually an alien though." She then pointed towards the boy in front, with spiky hair and a strange complexion. "This is Beast Boy. He can change into any animal at will. He's also known for cracking jokes in the heat of battle." Finally, she reached the last member of the team. "And here's Robin. He's the leader of the group, and is skilled in martial arts. He's also," she paused. "Really, really attractive."

I almost spit out my Diet Pepsi. "Whatever you say…"

"Hey!" she said indignantly, but smiled. "Like you don't agree?"

"I withhold any and all comments at this time."

"OK… you so do."

I turned away, not willing to answer. I ended up scanning the cafeteria, and took in all of the students. It struck me how much Teen Titans propaganda was spread out all over. Every table seemed to have something on it that had to do with these teenagers. I noticed more newspaper articles, pictures from the Internet, even shirts dedicated to these people.

"Why are so many people wearing their merchandise?" I asked, swiveling in my seat again to face Kristen. She shook her head.

"It's not merchandise; they don't even know there are T-shirts and stuff about them. But yeah, everyone's into them," was her answer, then she took a large bite of her sandwich. After swallowing, she added, "They provide a lot of hope for this city. Without them, we'd end up in a heap of rubble."

"Fun," I muttered. "What if they take a vacation?"

"They don't, which sucks for them, really."

"So they've been here for their whole lives or something?" I questioned.

"Actually, no." I waited, chewing my bagel (which was really stale) as Kristen sipped her drink thoughtfully. "They came to the city not too long ago, and cleaned it right up. The only time they ever had trouble… well, there was a traitor."

"Really?" I asked, my interest piqued.

"Yeah. For a while, they added this new girl Terra, but it turns out she was working for some big bad guy the whole time. I guess she redeemed herself, though. The Titans established a shrine to her on the outskirts of the city. It's right at this site of a volcano, so you're really not supposed to be there, but some kids still sneak out there for a look-"

"Who was she working for?" I interrupted. Kristen didn't seem to mind.

"No one knows." She lowered her voice, throwing cautious glances around the cafeteria. "The Titans know, of course, but they refused to tell. I guess it was painful to say, or something, but the police can't figure it out. They did say he 'wouldn't be a problem anymore,' whatever that means." She leaned back in her chair, nodding mysteriously.

"And the police just accept that as an answer?"

"Of course! Why would the Titans lie?" Kristen said, almost hurt. I was still new, so I didn't want to make any enemies, so I shook my hands furiously.

"No, no, I don't think they'd lie, or anything. I'm just surprised the cops don't need any sort of specific evidence," I interjected quickly.

This seemed to satisfy Kristen. She gathered her garbage, then held out her hand for my trash, and embarrassedly, I handed it to her. After she had thrown it out, she sank back into her seat. "The police are very trusting of these guys. They really know what they're doing. Most of the time, they handle all these crimes by themselves."

"So there's no reason for the cops?" I queried. Kristen shook her head.

"There's a ton of smaller crimes that it would be pointless to call the Titans to. The police handle those. Also, if the Titans pay attention to the aboveground crimes, then that leaves the cops to take on some of the underground crimes. They can go undercover and not worry about being too desperately missed while they're tracking some drug lord."

I nodded. "Makes sense."

Kristen looked down at her picture again, a dreamy look plastered all over her face. "I'd love to meet them."

"Do they ever come to schools?"

"When they have time," Kristen answered, but then gasped. "Oh, but you should have seen it last year at the Junior Prom!"

"What?"

"Well, I wasn't there, obviously, but this girl, Kitten, she had her father _blackmail_ Robin into taking her to the prom!"

"Wow. Did you know this girl?" I asked, surprised.

"No," Kristen said, shaking her head. "She's a lot older than me. She was also a snob; she didn't talk to underclassmen. But she got meet Robin! And _slow-dance _with him! I almost died when I heard."

I questioned, "How was she able to blackmail him?"

"Well, her father was a freak. He used their basement as a lab, and created these giant, mutant moths that he unleashed upon the city."

"That's… pleasant," I said sarcastically. Kristen laughed, then continued.

"Yeah, so, her dad said if Robin didn't take his daughter to the prom, he'd let the whole swarm go, so Robin showed up. He actually showed up! But apparently, he wasn't alone." She tapped her finger against the taller girl. "Starfire did too. Everyone who was there said she got really mad as Robin and Kitten slow-danced. Eventually, a fight broke out, and Starfire really went after her." Kristen sighed. "I don't blame her."

"What, she and this guy have something going on?" I asked, pointing to the boy named Robin. Kristen shrugged half-heartedly.

"They won prom king and queen. I wish I could have been there, in her place… but I guess that's totally unrealistic." I smiled sympathetically.

"Celebrity crushes are always hard."

"Yeah…" she said, trailing off. Then her eyes sparked up again. "But they came to our school at another time too! Not too long after that, either."

"For what?"

"This mutant thing, called Plasmus, came and attacked the football players during a varsity game. The crowds rushed right out, but the players and the cheerleaders couldn't escape as quickly, so they saw the whole thing. They said it was a really cool fight. But they also said Starfire flew away 'cause there was something wrong with her."

"This is starting to sound like one big soap opera." I murmured.

Kristen snapped her fingers. "Hey, I just thought of a way to repay you!"

"For wh-" I began, then remembered I was supposed to be helping her with Biology.

"I'll teach you all about the Titans, everything you ever wanted to know and more!" she said excitedly.

"You know, that's really sweet of you, but I'm not into the whole 'hero worship' thing." Kristen looked confused, so I elaborated. "Well, these guys sound pretty cool and all, but I doubt I'd ever really get into them like everyone else is. It looks like a whole school of groupies, you know?"

Kristen looked down. I was afraid I'd hurt her feelings and was about to apologize when she grinned. "I can see how this all looks to you, just moving in. It must seem really weird, but you'll see what I mean."

I shrugged disbelievingly. "Whatever you say." Kristen only smirked.

---

"Are you almost done with your homework?" my mom called from downstairs. I shook my head, still focusing, then remembered she couldn't see me.

"Almost!" I yelled.

Tapping my pencil against the Geometry textbook I'd been given, I frowned at the problems I was supposed to be solving. I hate any kind of math.

Sighing, I scribbled in what looked right, and checked in the back of the book. "Sweet," I said aloud. I was right. Slamming the textbook shut, I hopped over boxes still to be unpacked and ran down the stairs, nearly tripping over more boxes.

"So tell us about school," my mom said, placing my plate in front of me. I took a large bite, and chewed slowly.

"Got a boyfriend yet?" asked Jeremy, my older brother. I stuck my tongue out at him through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Kelly has a boyfriend?" my father said, lifting his head from his work. He had been leaning against the counter, scribbling madly.

"Already?" my mom asked, setting a glass of water in front of me.

"Yeah, I bet she does-"

"I do not!" I yelled indignantly. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Jeremy, at least I can actually-" I was about to really lash out him when the phone rang. Mom picked it up.

"Hello?" She paused. "Is our number already in there? Wow, that was fast." Another pause. "Yes, of course you can talk to her. I'm so pleased that she's already made a friend."

"Mom…" I groaned, as she handed me the phone. "Hello?"

"Turn on the TV! Channel 5! Turn it on! Right now!" I heard Kristen scream through the phone wires. I winced, holding the phone away from my ears.

"How did you get my number?" I asked.

"It's already in the school data base. My brother can hack computers like nobody's business, and I realized I had to talk to you about the Bio, 'cause we never actually went over it. But that doesn't matter, turn on the TV!"

"I don't even know if it's all plugged in," I said, walking into the family room. I could see my parents giving me odd looks from over my shoulder while my brother stole some chicken off my plate. Grabbing the remote, I switched on the TV. "Hey, it works!"

"Yippee. Channel 5! Right now! Right now!"

"OK, OK, calm down." I typed in the correct numeral, and the TV flipped over to the desired channel.

"…_finally took down the infamous villain Cinderblock in a raging battle in the park. After that display of heroism, is it any wonder that crowds of adoring fans have assembled here? One man had this to say." The image changed to a middle-aged man, wearing a tight purple shirt that stretched unattractively across his overweight stomach._

"_Did you see those Titans? With the 'boom' and the 'bang' and the 'kaboom!' Ha, they really showed Cinderblock! I want an autograph!"_

_The picture changed again to show the Teen Titans in front of a large crowd, kept at bay by police officers and yellow tape set up in the street. Reporters swarmed around, shoving their microphones out as far as possible, while screaming questions at the teens. Off to the side, Robin answered the police chief's questions, and Cyborg and Starfire saw Cinderblock safely into the large truck that was to haul him away, hopefully for good. Beast Boy was smiling and posing for the crowd, flexing his muscles and showing off his animal skills when Raven grabbed him. She dragged him off by the collar, with the green Titan still throwing 'suave' grins at the ladies._

"_Only a few statements!" roared the police chief, and allowed the reporter for Channel 5 to approach the Titans._

"_Robin, sir, can you tell us how Cinderblock escaped in the first place?" Robin's eye mask narrowed._

"_Unfortunately, no." _Kristen sighed in my ear. _"This is the second time he's broken out of prison since his former employer disappeared. We can't say for sure, but we think Cinderblock is now operating alone."_

"_And his previous boss?"_

"…_no comment, please."_

"_Robin, did you or any of your teammates sustain any damage during the fight?"_

_Robin grinned. "I'm really pleased to say 'no.' Luckily, we took Cinderblock down without any real problem. In the past, he had proved a real challenge for us, but I think our intense training programs are really working."_

"_Did you design these training programs yourself?"_

"_Yeah, I actually did. I first took a look at each team member's-"_

"_Dudes!" a green face suddenly appeared, completely blocking out Robin. "What's up, Jump City? Did you see us out there kicking Cinderblock's- ahh!"_

_A pale hand had grabbed the Titan's ear and was dragging him off. "You are so immature," Raven grumbled to herself._

"_But I was getting my much-deserved air time!"_

"_Ugh."_

_Robin coughed. "Anyway, as I was saying-"_

_Starfire flew up to Robin, leaning in to whisper in his ear. She pressed up close to him so he would be able to hear, and a faint red tinge spread across his cheeks. But after she finished relaying the message, he jolted. "Really?" She nodded. Starfire then turned to face the camera._

"_I am sorry to bring this interview to an untimely halt, but our services are required at another location. But we would be more than happy to complete this interview at another, better suited, time," she said cheerfully._

_Robin turned around to face his other teammates. "The police chief just got a call from downtown. Turns out there's some punk robbing a jewelry store."_

"_But there's a Monster Movie Marathon on in, like, ten minutes!" Beast Boy whined._

_Raven hit him over the head, and the Titans took to the air, Starfire carrying Cyborg, and Raven carrying Robin, while Beast Boy proceeded to transform into a green hawk._

"_As you can see, the Teen Titans work diligently to protect our city. We will return with more coverage of their amazing efforts in a half an hour. Stay tuned. In other news-"_

I switched off the TV. "OK, that was freaky. Did you see that guy change into a bird? I have never seen anything like that before."

Kristen sighed in my ear again. "Isn't he so incredibly sexy?"

"Um…"

Kristen coughed. "Sorry. But you have to admit, the Teen Titans are awesome. They risk their lives to protect our city! How can you not think that's cool?"

"Kristen, listen to me. You have an obsession. It is not healthy," I said. I stole a glance back into the kitchen where I saw my brother scoop my mashed potatoes onto his plate.

"I am not obsessed! Well, maybe a little. But it's not bad to like something that much!"

"Right," I snorted. "Anyway, I'm really sorry, but I have to go eat what's left of my dinner. Can I call you back?"

"Sure." She gave me her number, and we hung up. I ran screaming into the kitchen, brandishing the phone and threatening my brother with all kinds of horrible torture as he downed the last of my water.

---

A week passed. Kristen and I became really good friends in such a short amount of time. She introduced me to the group she hung out with, and they were all nice people. I learned that the blonde girl who had picked on me on my first day was named Heather, and she was one of the alleged 'popular' people, but no one really liked her. Luckily, Kristen and her group really didn't care at all about popularity, so I fit right in. Even though Heather still shot me dirty looks, I was able to ignore it, and I had a great place to sit at lunch.

Kristen got a 97 on her Biology test.

I was really enjoying my new friends, although they were all obsessed over the Titans as well. Quite a few of them liked Robin too, but there were a couple Beast Boy and Cyborg fans as well. The two guys in the group, both boyfriends of two girls, agreed that Starfire was 'sexy beyond all reason' and Raven was 'the darkest hottie they'd ever seen.' But strangely, their girlfriends didn't seem to mind their praise for the heroines.

I still refused to partake in the worship, though. "I'm not into the whole 'celebrities are great' thing," was my argument, but everyone always told me it wasn't like that. That was the only thing that frustrated me.

"Why does everyone act like they know something I don't?" I demanded, as Kristen and I sat down on the bus going home. "Not you, though, but everyone else!"

"Well, they almost do," she said. I guess my face betrayed my emotions, because she quickly said, "I don't mean it like that. I just mean it's not some sort of cult. You should have seen life before they came to the city. It was pretty-"

"Bleak," someone behind us interrupted. We swiveled around to come face-to-face with Ian. I had only spoken to him in Latin, and didn't know we were on 'out-of-school' speaking terms. He slowly lifted his headphones off his ears, and leaned over the seat. "I'm not one to follow the crowd, but if the crowd likes the Teen Titans, so be it. They're heroes, and there's nothing more to it. What's not to like?"

"I never said I didn't like them!" I stated huffily. "I'm just not going to revere them as gods."

"We don't!" Kristen said.

"Why do you think that?" asked Ian.

"Everyone is always talking about them, always thinking about them, always watching for them on the news. It's blatant hero worship!" I was starting to yell, but at that point, I didn't really care. I was angry.

"I think I know what your problem is," Ian said matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"You've never seen them save anyone's life. You've only seen them stop crimes. But they have the ability to prevent murders. Isn't that amazing?"

"Police officers can too." Ian and Kristen, although I knew they weren't friends, shared such a knowing look it seemed as if they'd been best friends for years.

Kristen smiled. "You'll see someday."

"That'll be the day," I replied sulkily, turning to glare out the window while Ian and Kristen began to discuss what programs and interviews they had seen the Teen Titans on.

---

The next day, Kristen and I sat down at the usual table, our earlier spat forgotten. We were laughing and joking as usual, when Ian walked by. He smiled at the both of us, our eyes meeting and I got another nod.

"Ooh," whispered Kristen, and I hit her. She snickered as our friends joined us.

"Was Ian just giving you 'the look?'" asked Jordan, his arm around his girlfriend Lizzie. Lizzie giggled.

"He so was!" I held up my hands.

"Guys, c'mon. No way."

Kristen was still laughing. "Oh, but you guys make such a cute couple!"

"No we don't!"

"You don't think so?" asked Carrie, another friend.

"Well-"

CRASH! Suddenly, bits of plaster and pipe fell down on top of our heads. People all over the cafeteria screamed. The water pressure burst overhead and the entire student body was sprayed with freezing liquid that sent shivers up our spines.

A weird crackling noise came from above, and everyone turned their heads up. White-hot electricity was shooting across the ceiling, raining sparks down. An odd microchip seemed to be suspended in the electricity, and as it stretched across the cafeteria, it crackled even more. The white energy descended down the wall and formed a large entity, the microchip serving as the creature's eye.

"I know who that is," gasped Kristen. "It's Overload!"

Overload screeched an unearthly roar as it extended 'arms' outward, sending shockwaves towards the doorways. The sparks stretched across the entrances and created walls of electricity. We were trapped.

"Call the principal! The police!" A lunch lady came streaking out, wielding a large kitchen spoon. "Anybody! Help!"

All at once, chaos broke out. It was every man for himself. One student had the bright idea of smashing open the fire extinguisher, and soon people were covered in white foam. Overload continued to advance on the students. I myself was petrified. I couldn't move out of sheer terror. My whole body was paralyzed with fear. What was this thing?

Overload let forth another horrible shriek. Thankfully, it recalled the white lightning trapping us in the cafeteria. On the down side, it crashed through the entire wall. Students scrambled to escape through the exit. I was still frozen with utter horror. I had never felt like that before.

I whimpered a little. Overload turned its electric eye towards me. I wanted to cry.

Suddenly, I felt a tugging at my arm. It was Ian. "We have to get out of here!" he screamed. I still couldn't move.

Overload raised an arm again, this time to strike us down. Ian yanked as hard as he could, and I jolted awake, but we couldn't move fast enough-

"Titans, go!"

Black energy surrounded Overload and somehow managed to throw him back several feet. The darkness then took the form of a large bird, and a girl rose from it.

"We meet again, Overload," she hissed. The thing screeched.

At that moment, Overload was hit with a barrage of green balls of energy. Before it could recover, a white-blue beam zapped it straight it the microchip while a green pterodactyl swooped in, carrying a boy by his shoulders. The green Titan dropped Robin and he threw a handful of smoke bombs at the enemy.

As Overload stumbled back, the Teen Titans regrouped. Robin stood in the middle, smirking. His teammates assembled around him, all of them wearing equal looks of confidence.

"We've fought you too many times to be intimidated," Cyborg said.

"We also know your weakness," Beast Boy cackled. At that moment, I noticed Overload had avoided all the emergency sprinklers. Overload seemed to realize this too, and held up its arms again. Zapping the entire school system, it knocked down the automatic spouts. The water trickled to a stop, and the Titans collectively frowned.

"OK, that makes it slightly more difficult," Raven drawled.

Overload shrieked again, and they all sprang into action.

Robin shot a tether out, and swung over the fight scene. He jumped and landed on an upturned table. Ripping open the wall, he began to search for the valve that would turn on the water again. Cyborg slid down to the ground, shooting his Sonic Cannon straight at Overload's 'head.' Raven took control of more tables, encasing them in dark energy and flinging them at Overload. Overload yelled loudly, and knocked them away. Raven held her arms up to protect herself from any shards that might come at her. But she looked up to late, and Overload slashed her down.

Raven fell through the air, her body crackling with electricity. A green T-rex jumped out of seemingly nowhere, and reached with its skinny arms to catch her. Realizing he couldn't, Beast Boy changed back in the nick of time, catching Raven in his arms.

"Ooh," she groaned, hand on her head. She looked up at her savior. "Oh, I'll never hear the end of this."

"You so owe me," Beast Boy teased, waggling his eyebrows. Raven rolled her eyes.

"And how can I repay you, oh great-and-powerful hero?" she asked sarcastically. Beast Boy grinned and leaned in close.

"Well discuss that later," he hissed, and set her down gently. He turned into a rhinoceros and charged into battle, leaving a very surprised, very red Raven behind. She raised a hand to her face, then shook her head. She pulled her hood back up, and joined the battle once more.

Robin struggled with the wires inside the wall, cursing under his breath. Overload smashed the wall above where he was working, sending shockwaves down into Robin's arms. Growling in pain and rage, Robin jolted back.

"Leave him alone!" cried Starfire, shooting green beams out of her eyes. Overload screeched as it was hit. Cyborg jumped in again, and shot it with his cannon again. Raven wrapped him in her energy again, trying to subdue him. Because he was a friend, Beast Boy could touch the darkness without being injured, and charged into it, sending Overload flying. Starfire yet again let loose a stream of starbolts on the electric menace.

"Yes!" cried Robin as he finally connected the correct wires. Sparks flew from the faulty link, and Starfire swooped in just in time to get him out of there. The water began to spurt from the open pipes, drenching everyone still in the room, including me and Ian.

Overload screeched in pain as its body shrank down, all the electricity shriveling away into nothingness. Finally, only the microchip was left. It gurgled in a small puddle, the eye swiveling around, trying to see the threat on all sides of it.

"That was fast," Beast Boy said happily. Starfire nodded.

"Yes, he was easily vanquished this time. We were lucky," she said.

"No way!" Cyborg held up a proud fist. "We were awesome!"

"We need to clean up the damages here and turn this guy in," Raven said. Beast Boy reached over and yanked her hood down. She tugged it back up, glaring at her teammate. He pulled it back down. She sighed, looking away, but left it where it was.

"Alright team, time to focus. We need to get some paramedics over here in case anyone was injured. There's also a ton of fallen debris we need to clear out. I think we can call in a favor with the construction company on the east side of town. We also need statements, witnesses, the whole thing. Cyborg, start making calls. Beast Boy, Raven, you talk to some of the people here. Starfire… we'll wait outside for the police to show up."

Starfire smiled knowingly. Robin nodded to the team, and they spread out to do their respective assignments. Cyborg pulled out his communicator and dialed up the number of the hospital. Beast Boy and Raven approached some students peering in for a closer look at the battle scene. The kids seemed flustered because of the Titan's status, but Beast Boy and Raven were all business. Robin and Starfire walked out of the building, Starfire inspecting a small cut on the Boy Wonder's arm.

---

I didn't do any of my homework that night. Not that any of the teachers cared. We had to have class in portables provided by the construction company the Titans called. But I was able to show off what I had been working on the night before. I wore a homemade T-shirt bearing the Teen Titans insignia on it. I had different colored arm bands, each representing a different Titan. I had called Kristen that night, and she met me outside the school, first thing in the morning. After an approving nod for my outfit, she handed me a small pin.

It read, 'Teen Titans Fan.'

-----

Author's Notes: Hmm, that story resembled a personal problem of mine a little too closely. My friend has been pushing her religion on me, and I, as an Atheist, have said no repeatedly. But whatever, just finding a connection. Ignore my rambling! Please review!


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